Page 30 of Knox
I didn’t respond. My jaw stayed tight, heart thudding behind my ribs as I looked back at my phone.
I just kept staring at the screen until the video repeated. Knox crossed the clubhouse and sat in the chair next to mine.
Ritchson walked by and held up his phone. “Guess you two are trending.”
Cabrera glanced over from his locker. “Would’ve been a great play if one of you had caught it.”
A couple of guys laughed.
Ramos peeled off his jersey and tossed it into the laundry bin. “Yeah, I saw it onStar Nation.You’re celebrities now.”
I gave him a look. “You done?”
“Stratton. Singleton.” Parker’s voice carried from the back hallway. “My office. Now.”
We stood and nobody said anything as we walked past, but I could feel everyone watching us.
The office door was already open. Parker stood behind his desk. Matthewson leaned against the wall, arms crossed.
Knox and I stepped inside.
“Close the door,” Parker instructed.
I did, then stayed standing.
Parker looked at both of us. “You two good?”
I didn’t answer right away. Not because I wasn’t okay, but because I hated that this was even a thing. I was here to catch a baseball, hit it out of the park on the regular, and be Grady’s hero. But now everyone had an opinion. On who I was. What it meant. Like being with Knox changed what I could do behind the plate. It didn’t, but the world didn’t see it that way yet.
Knox nodded. “Yeah.”
Parker crossed his arms. “I didn’t call you in here to lecture you.”
Some of the tension dropped from my shoulders.
“I know the clip’s out there. So does half the media, and it’s probably going to keep climbing for the next day or two, but I want you to hear something from me first.”
He shifted his focus between us. “When Drew and I got outed, it wasn’t because we chose to be. Someone leaked a photo of us in a hotel room during the World Series. We walked into the clubhouse, and it was already up on guys’ phones. Matthewson was the one who showed it to me.”
Matthewson nodded. “It got real quiet. Nobody knew what to say.”
“I didn’t either,” Parker went on. “One minute I was getting ready for a World Series game, the next, Drew was standing in front of me with a phone in his hand and a look I’ll never forget. Our skipper pulled us into his office before we even had a chance to figure out what the hell happened.” He paused. “We told himwe could still play, and that’s all that matters. We know your sexuality has nothing to do with baseball, but we also know stuff like this can mess with your head.”
We waited for Parker to finish.
“You’re in a better spot than me and Drew were. You’ve got time. You’ve got control. We didn’t have either.”
“We’re not looking to make it a press conference,” Knox replied.
“Then don’t,” Parker instructed. “But PR already saw it. They’re holding off until you tell us what you want to do. If you want to post something and take control of it, they’ll back you. If not, we’ll keep it neutral and let the clip die out.”
“We post something, and it dies down quicker.” Knox wasn’t wrong. Posting would shut it down faster. But once it was out, it was out. No walking it back. No letting it fade. The world would stop guessing and start defining it for me. For us. I hadn’t planned on coming out through a viral headline, but maybe it was fate— a chance to rip the Band-Aid off.
Matthewson nodded. “You post something, it’s yours. Otherwise, someone else writes the story.”
I looked over at Knox. “We’ll think about it.”
“Whatever you decide,” Parker said, “you’ve got all of us behind you.”
